Sammendrag
This work showed for the first time that organic nutrient transformation
techniques based on locally available materials (manure, green waste
and advanced biochar) can increase fertilizing efficiency of the resulting
substrate by a factor of three compared with other organic amendments
without biochar. We used three different composting methods to investigate
the techniques of organic nutrient transformations; i) conventional
composting (composting process completed without turning the piles) ii)
aerobic composting (composting process with manual turning of piles)
and iii) bokashi composting (anaerobic lacto-fermentation). Composting
was carried out in the absence (compost alone) and the presence of
biochar (co-composted). Biochar was produced locally from an invasive
forest shrub ‘Eupatorium adenophorum’. A pot trial with maize grown in
silty loam soil was carried out to investigate the agronomic effect produced
using three above-mentioned composting methods that were
compared with conventional mineral fertilizers (NPK). Significant effects
of co-composted bokashi-biochar (60 t ha−1) were observed on maize
growth, which increased biomass by 243% compared to mineral NPK,
also showing better growth effects than conventional and aerobic composting amendments. Improved soil available nutrients (available P and other exchangeable base cations (K+, Ca2+ and Mg2+)) were probably the cause of the superior growth effect of co-composted bokashi-biochar.
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